The Council of Europe supports the promotion of human rights and democracy through education, as a mean of building peaceful societies where the human dignity of all people is respected. The Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) aims to provide ‘’every person within their territory with the opportunity of education for democratic citizenship and human rights education” and offers a unique common European framework of reference, a focus and catalyst for action in the member states.

In 2022 a review of the Charter’s implementation will be undertaken. Within the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, a Forum on Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education with young people will be held in Torino from 11 to 13 April, to assess the situation, trends and needs for EDC/HRE across the Council of Europe and identify future priorities for the upcoming five years.

• Survey for youth organisations
• Survey for non-governmental organisations and institutions
• Survey for youth policy institutions

The Bureaux of the European Steering Committee for Youth (CDEJ) and of the Advisory Council on Youth (CCJ) held their first meetings of the year online on 20 and 21 January 2022.  The 2020-21 term of office of the Advisory Council on Youth was the first ever during which the statutory committees had been unable to meet in person.

In their joint meeting, the Bureaux heard up-to-date information on preparations for the 2022 youth campaign “Democracy Here.  Democracy Now” (provisional title), which is to be launched in March on the occasion of the first biannual statutory meetings of 2022.  They were also informed that the current Italian, and future Irish, Icelandic and Latvian presidencies will include youth in the priorities of their CM presidencies, continuing the current trend.

The Director of Democratic Participation discussed the progress of youth-related issues in the Committee of Ministers’ Rapporteur Group on Education, Culture, Sport, Youth and Environment.  The Head of the Youth Department introduced current ideas for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the youth sector in 2022, including the proposal to create a new network of youth sector alumni.

The Campaign Steering Group met on 18 and 19 January 2022 online for the first time since the Joint Council on Youth decided to launch a youth campaign on revitalising democracy in 2022 marking also the 50th Anniversary of the Council of Europe youth sector.  The governance structure has endorsed the slogan of the campaign, further reviewed the communication strategy proposed and initiated the preparations for the launch of the campaign and the Youth Festival foreseen for 27 June-2 July 2022 in Strasbourg. The concept, draft programme and timetable of the campaign are available on the youth portal, a dedicated campaign website and a campaign video will be launched shortly. 

To support the Campaign, the European Youth Foundation and the campaign secretariat jointly organised an online Q&A session for youth organisations planning to apply to the EYF special call for local and international activities.

The session included a presentation of the campaign and an explanation of the type of projects that may be supported by the EYF, followed by a well-used opportunity to ask questions. The meeting was attended by 65 participants, representing 60 NGOs from all over Europe.

The annual report of activities 2021 of the Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card is now available.

Having in mind the priorities for the 2020-2021 programme of activities of the Council of Europe’s Youth Sector youth mobility remains an important tool for achieving these objectives.

Int 2021, youth mobility has been challenged and replaced by online  activities. However, the European Youth Centres gradually opened their doors to youth activities and mobility within projects improved, compared to 2020. Youth mobility remained at the core of EYCA and the Association piloted hybrid seminars and trainings, offering young people the possibility of either travelling or attending online.

The proposed specific aims for the PA work programme 2021 were:

- Support and encourage innovation in youth work and youth services, especially in the context of COVID-19 challenges;
- Explore how the European Youth Card can support resilience and participation of young people and access to their rights;
- Promote the European Youth Card as a tool for young people’s social, economic and cultural inclusion.

The grant agreement for 2022 between the Council of Europe and the European Youth Card Association (EYCA) has just been signed. It is aimed at the implementation of the current year’s work programme of the Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card.

In line with the priorities 2022-23 of the Council of Europe youth sector,  the work programme reflects the need to reinforce youth trust in public institutions and pluralistic democracies, to empower them as actors of peaceful and inclusive societies and to bring youth mobility back on the policy agenda, with a focus on access to learning mobility opportunities for disadvantaged young people.

In particular, it will be explored how the European Youth Card, as a youth mobility tool, can support opportunities for disadvantaged young people (including Roma youth and young refugees) and build intercultural skills for all youth.

The role that the European Youth Card can play in advancing synergies in youth work policies and its contribution to the European youth work agenda will be also this year’s focus.

An online panel discussion was held as part of Enter! Training for youth workers on the topic of Youth work projects as a tool for social change.

Yael Ohana author of the impact study on Enter! "What can youth work do for access to social rights" explained the links between youth policies, youth work, its funding and charity, followed by Silvia Volpi, who presented the key approaches in evaluating youth work projects. Finally, Alessandra Coppola shared her experience in the Enter! training and the importance of knowing how to adapt youth work activities to make sure social rights are kept in focus.

The public launch of the Azerbaijani version of Council of Europe key resources for youth participation and youth work took place in Baku on 21 December 2021. The same day, the conference “Strengthening youth work in Azerbaijan” brought together partners and actors from youth, education and human rights sectors, who were greeted by representatives from the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, members of the Parliament and government institutions of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The sessions “Approaches and practices in youth work” and “Human rights education and youth participation in Azerbaijan” allowed participants to share their experience and to reflect on how to improve youth participation, and discuss ideas for future projects.

The presentation of the publications allowed participants to become better acquainted with the Council of Europe values and approaches in youth policy and youth work. The Azerbaijani versions included:

• Enter Dignityland, a game for learning about social rights with young people
• The Youth sector strategy 2030
• The Council of Europe Youth Work Portfolio
• The Council of Europe Quality Label for Youth Centres
• Taking it seriously Guide to the ‘’Enter!’’ Recommendation
• Have your say!, Manual on the Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life
• Compass, A manual on Human Rights Education with Young People.

The conference and publications were realised in close cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sport, within the youth dimension of the Council of Europe Action Plan on Azerbaijan.

The planning meeting of the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase II” took place in Kyiv in a hybrid format on 26-27 January 2022. This new phase is built on the results of the project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” and marks its influence by strengthening youth work provision and extending youth policy reform at the local level.

The Project stresses the importance of the Council of Europe youth sector strategy 2030 and reflects the current youth policy reforms in Ukraine, notably the National strategy of the State Youth Policy 2030, the State Target Social Programme “Youth of Ukraine” 2021-2025.

The Project comprises capacity-building activities, support measures for youth policy and youth work based on existing policy standards and tools of the Council of Europe youth sector. It covers work with representatives of local, regional and national authorities and youth work providers. As an overall result young people in Ukraine will benefit from participatory youth policy and youth work to exercise their human rights and freedoms, meaningful participation, and democratic citizenship.